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Arrest of Male in Colchester County by RCMP Lawful

Apr

20

The province's independent Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) today released its report regarding the arrest of a man at a property on Highway 311 in Colchester County on the early morning of August 21, 2015.

Shortly after 4 a.m. a male member of the Bible Hill RCMP responded to a complaint about an unwanted male passed out on a lawn at the rural property. When the officer arrived he found a highly intoxicated male and female, each wearing little clothing, lying on the lawn. As the officer approached the female owner of the home to get information, the male got up and was confrontational with the officer. As the officer proceeded into the home, the male opened the door of the police vehicle saying he was going to steal it.

At that point the officer went to arrest the male. A struggle occurred, during which the male went down to the ground on his back, pulling the officer on top of him. It appears that caused some internal injury to the male, although he did not initially complain about it. After having been arrested and lodged at the Truro Police Service cells, he complained of chest pain and was taken to hospital where he was admitted for treatment of the injuries.

The incident was not initially reported to SiRT by the RCMP due to oversight, but was brought to SiRT’s attention on December 23, 2015. While the male involved confirmed to SiRT he was injured during the arrest, he otherwise indicated he did not want to participate in the investigation.

In the circumstances, the officer had lawful grounds to arrest the male. The injury was accidental, caused when the male failed to comply with the officer’s attempt to arrest him. There are no grounds to consider any charges in the matter.

SIRT is responsible for investigating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia. Investigations are under the direction and control of independent civilian director Ron MacDonald, who is solely responsible for decisions respecting the laying of any charge.